César Chávez
Author profile
born
in Yuma, Arizona, The United States
March 31, 1927
died
April 27, 1993
gender
male
website
About this author
A true American hero, Cesar was a civil rights, Latino and farm labor leader; a genuinely religious and spiritual figure; a community organizer and social entrepreneur; a champion of militant nonviolent social change; and a crusader for the environment and consumer rights.
A first-generation American, he was born on March 31, 1927, near his family's small homestead in the North Gila River Valley outside Yuma, Arizona. At age 11, his family lost the farm during the Great Depression and became migrant farm workers. Throughout his youth and into adulthood, Cesar traveled the migrant streams throughout California laboring in the fields, orchards and vineyards, where he was exposed to the hardships and injustices of farm worker life.
After attendi...more
A true American hero, Cesar was a civil rights, Latino and farm labor leader; a genuinely religious and spiritual figure; a community organizer and social entrepreneur; a champion of militant nonviolent social change; and a crusader for the environment and consumer rights.
A first-generation American, he was born on March 31, 1927, near his family's small homestead in the North Gila River Valley outside Yuma, Arizona. At age 11, his family lost the farm during the Great Depression and became migrant farm workers. Throughout his youth and into adulthood, Cesar traveled the migrant streams throughout California laboring in the fields, orchards and vineyards, where he was exposed to the hardships and injustices of farm worker life.
After attending numerous schools as the family migrated, Cesar finished his formal education after the eighth grade and worked the fields full-time to help support his family. Although his formal education ended then, he later satisfied an insatiable intellectual curiosity and was self-taught on an eclectic range of subjects through reading during the rest of his life.
Cesar joined the U.S. Navy in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, and served in the Western Pacific. He returned from the service in 1948 to marry Helen Fabela, whom he met while working in fields and vineyards around Delano. The Chavez family soon settled in the poor East San Jose barrio of Sal Si Puedes (Get Out if You Can), and eventually had eight children and 31 grandchildren.
The significance of Cesar's life transcends any one cause or struggle. He was a unique and humble leader as well as a great humanitarian and communicator who influenced and inspired millions of Americans from all walks of life to social and political activism, especially for the poor and disenfranchised in our society. Cesar forged a national and extraordinarily diverse coalition for farm worker boycotts that included students, middle class consumers, trade unionists, religious activists and minorities.
Cesar passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993, in the small farm worker town of San Luis, Arizona, not far from where he was born 66 years earlier on the family homestead. More than 50,000 people attended his funeral services in Delano, the same community in which he had planted the seeds of social justice decades before.
Cesar's motto "Si se puede!" ("Yes, it can be done!"), coined during his 1972 fast in Arizona's mbodies the uncommon legacy he left for people around the world. Since his death, hundreds of communities across the nation have named schools, parks, streets, libraries, and other public facilities as well as awards and scholarships in his honor. His birthday, March 31, is an official holiday in 10 states. In 1994, President Clinton posthumously awarded Cesar the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, at the White House.
He liked to say his job as an organizer was helping ordinary people do extraordinary things. Cesar made everyone, especially the farm workers, feel the jobs they were doing in the movement were important. It didn't matter if they were lawyers working in the courtroom or cooking to feed the people in the strike kitchen.
He showed the farm workers they could win against great odds, even if they were poor and weren't able to go to school. By giving people faith helping them believe in themselves Cesar succeeded where so many others failed for 100 years to organize farm workers. That is why he was able to do the impossible by challenging, and overcoming, the awesome power of one of California's richest industries.
Cesar Chavez's common man with an uncommon vision stood for equality, justice, and dignity for all Americans. His universal principles remain as relevant and inspiring today for all people as they were when he was alive. (less)
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